I AM writing in response to the recent letter about hospital radio at York Hospital (November 28) and would like to clarify some of the points made.

We understand how important radio is for patients in hospital and provide a wide range of radio stations via the Patientline bedside unit - all of these are provided at no cost to the patient and are available 24 hours a day.

I would also like to clarify that we do not charge a flat rate of £10 a day. Patients can choose to use their Patientline bedside television or telephone and they are in control of how much they want to spend. And if they wish to use only the free radio then they don't have to spend anything at all.

I am sorry that in your correspondent's experience it took him 20 minutes to register for our services. This is very unusual and I would ask if Mr Shepherdson could contact us directly so that we can conduct an investigation into how this occurred.

As a company, we understand that being in hospital can be a distressing experience and we work hard to provide services that will help not only patients, but their friends and relatives during this difficult time.

Per Jonsson,

Chief executive,

Patientline

Patientline UK Limited,

Thames Valley Court,

Bath Road, Slough.

Updated: 10:21 Friday, December 02, 2005